Indicating device for seam welding apparatus



Oct. 20, 1953 F. M. DARNER ETAL INDICATING DEVICE FOR SEAM WELDING APPARATUS Filed sept. 2o, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet l ROWS,MCLW

IITTRNEY Oct. 20, 1953 F. M. DARNER ET AL INDICATING DEVICE: FOR SEAM WELDING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 2O 1949 .I II ll M m i A FYaclLvfc. M. DLLYACY BY W* www s, sakwef Patented Oct. 20, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE INDICATING DEVICE FOR SEAM WELDING APPARATUS Application September 20, 1949, Serial No. 116,762

7 claims. 1

This invention relates to indicating and regulating instrumentalities for seam Welding apparatus, more particularly in apparatus for manufacturing pipe or like articles. In an important specific aspect, the invention is peculiarly adapted for pipe making equipment wherein large diameter pipe (say, 20 inches to 30 inches in diameter) is produced by Welding a seam along a longitudinal cleft in a tubular pipe blank which is continuously advanced past the welding means in an axial direction. Such apparatus involves a considerable assembly of cooperating devices for guiding, aligning and steadying the pipe blank during its passage to and through the welding station, the guiding and holding equipment preferably constituting a chuck device having a multiplicity of rollers or the like for compressively engaging the pipe blank and holding it and particularly the edges of its cleft against any unwanted displacement while the seam is being welded.

A presently preferred type of welding operation involves one or more arc electrodes disposed adjacent the path of the cleft so that a Welding arc is maintained between the electrodes and the edges of the cleft to produce the desired welded seam. In performing such operation a continuous layer of flux, e. g. loose, iinely granular material, is deposited on the pipe blank, in bridging relation to the cleft, as the latter approaches the lwelding electrodes, so that the electrodes operate beneath the surface of the thick layer or heap of flux, which in turn remains over the seam until the welded portion of the pipe is advanced to a remote locality beyond the chuck.

By reason of the nature of the chuck device and the rollers and other instrumentalities surrounding the pipe blank therein, and also by reason of the employment of a rather wide band of ux covering the cleft and the welded seam during practically the entire travel of the pipe blank through the chuck, it is usually impossible, or for any of these reasons at least difficult or inconvenient, for the attending operator to observe the line of the cleft or the produced seam as the latter is passing the welding electrodes. While the apparatus may also include means back of the chuck, for guiding and aligning the cleft to present it with some accuracy along a path leading to the electrodes, experience has shown that some displacement or wandering of the cleft line is apt to occur, for example due to slight rotative distortion of the pipe blank from one place to another along it (such blanks being of the order of 3G feet in length) or by other circumferential displacement of the tubular article about its axis.

Although such positional variations may be relatively small, perhaps no more than a minor fraction of an inch, it is important that the welding electrode or electrodes be strictly aligned with the cleft line for completeness and security of the welded seam, i. e. to position it exactly and symmetrically along the cleft. Means are therefore provided to eiiect mutual adjustment between the cleft line of the pipe and the welding electrodes, for example, by transverse adjustment of the latter, but the diiiiculties of observation mentioned above, have rendered it correspondingly difficult for the operator to make the described, accurate adjustments as are necessary from time to time.

Accordingly a chief object of the present invention is to aiford novel instrumentalities for indicating the lateral or circumferential position of the cleft in a pipe blank or the like as it approaches the welding apparatus, to permit regulation of the latter in exact registry with the cleft. Further objects are to afford improved and accurate seam-following means, e. g. for following the line on the pipe blank or the like upon which seam-producing operation is to be performed, such means affording continuous and promptly exhibited indication of the positional relationship between such line and the working instrumentalities.

Still further objects are to afford new and improved indicating means of the character described, which are of a rugged nature and appropriate for heavy equipment such as used in manufacturing large diameter pipe and yet which show continuously the relative positions of the seam. line and the welding equipment, also preferably revealing the relation of such positions to a fixed point or locality of the apparatus. Another object is to aiord novel and more eiiective seam following and indicating instrumentalities, showing in an amplified or magnified manner, minute positional variations of the character stated, e. g. between the line of work and the seam-making device.

Other objects are to provide new and effective arrangements for indicating the position of a cleft or work line, relative to welding means, in apparatus for welding a seam or joint along a predetermined line in an article which is advanced in the direction of such line, it being understood that the devices hereinbelow described are applicable, in a broader sense, to Various types of apparatus, as for operation upon other articles than pipe of the character stated.

To these and other ends, a presently preferred embodiment of the invention is hereinbelow described and set forth in the accompanying drawings, by way of example to illustrate the features and principles of improvement.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the device as associated with the chuck of pipe manufacturing apparatus of the character stated;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan View of vthe device, omitting most of the supporting structure;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the device and of a portion of the associated chuck structure, taken from the left hand or pipe-entering endof Fig. 1 and showing the pipe blankincross. sec-4 tion; and

Fig. 4 is a schematic, simplied perspective view taken diagonally from the same side as Fig. l and showing the device in operation as pipe is being Welded.

fAs'indic'ated hereinabove, the illustrated em- `Abodiment of the invention -isshown in combinationwithapparatus through which a pipe blank 'I0 having a longitudinal cleft I2 `is continuously advanced in the direction of its axis (as by means not shown),-such apparatus comprising a chuck device'generally designated I4. yWhile the par- 'ticular'construction ofthe chuck I4 forms no "part -of the present invention and while many ldetails 'of its structure are therefore omitted 'fromthe drawings,'it will be understood that it #includes a multiplicity of sets of rollers I5, the sets being' distributed circumferentially about 'thepassing pipe and each set including a multiplicity-of such rollers Aarranged yin a linear array,

i. e. lengthwise of the pipe blankyso that the 'latter' is held, incompressive rolling engagement, :at a:greatfmany points as it progresses through the chuck.

The cleft 'line I2 being conveniently disposed uppermost in the apparatus, further sets of rollers -I are arranged-'in longitudinal array 'alongthe cleft Ypathrandclose to it at each side, so Vas to keep the'cleft v'edges as steady as posrsible :against mutual `displacement Aduring and Vafter the weldingoperation. A larger register 4`roller 'I8 may also be provided to bear against 'the cleft, in bridging 'relation to it, as the pipe blank .advances intothe chuck.

The welding apparatus mayiinclude .one or more"welding electrodes, .for' example represented rby .the series of two Wire electrodes 29, 2|, having their` lower ends vdisposed in close .prox- `imityto the cleft lineto'bewelded andarranged in a linear'arrayalong such path as shown. The felectrodes`20,2l consist of .suitable welding wire or rod continuously fed. (ais the'same is consumed in' the arc Aweldingvoperation) by devices 122, 23 ofconventional structure,A from .reels of such Wire, not shown. Thefeeding devices 22, 23 are carried by .appropriate .supporting means 25 mounted well abovezthe chuckM, and the wires 20,'.2I 'are respectivelyfadvanced through sleeves '26,.'271 andguidenozzle' structures 28,729, toward the weld locality.

The nozzle structures`-2 8, 129 are mounted on a `slide 3D1horizontally movable in .transverse ways SI1, 32, that are inturn. carried `by a supporting plate34 just'abovefandatpne side of the Weld locality. Suitable means are provided for moving the slide'f30 in afdirection crosswise of the pathV of the pipe blank,.such means being represented, for example, by a leadscrewSG coupled 'by 'a' sprocket chainf38 to an upper-shaft Alion the supportingstructure-ZS, -such upper shaft being turned by a hand wheel or crank d2. Thus the operator may make ne adjustments of the position of both electrodes 20, 2l (simultaneously) relative to the path of the cleft I2, i. e. crosswise of such path, by turning the handle 42.

A layer of suitable -iux 45, say yone or two inches deep, is` continuously deposited on the pipe blank from a supply conduit IIB disposed 'fjust above the cleft line at a region to the rear of the arc electrode means, in the path of pipe travel. The resulting layer of solid, nely divided ux particles is retained, e. g. in a path of desired width, by longitudinal shield plates 48, 49. IIn consequence the electrodes plow continuously, so as to speak, through the layer of flux, andthe arcs struck between the electrodes and the work, as well as the seam line itself, are buried beneath the mass of flux. It will now be appreciated that by reason of the various structures, supports, rollers, shields and other devices,

in the vicinityof the welding means, and like- Wisebecausesof the layer of ilux '45, the operator cannot observethe cleft line within the chuck, norfrom his position adjacent the latter .can he very well see such line at `any 4other near point of the advancing pipe blank.

In accordance, therefore, Withfthe present invention, a seamfollowerdevice is provided, including a seam following Wheel having a sharp circular edge: .5I :which/ slightly but` sufficiently penetrates the crack, along the top4 of the pipe blank, constituted bythe meeting edges of the cleft I2. The wheel 5! is thus designed for posi- Ytive,vcontinuous engagement with the cleft as the latter, .in essentially .closed.position, approaches the chuck. To roll along `the cleft crack in this manner, thewheelis mountedtoturn on a horizontal axis at the end of an arm 53 which extends inan upwardlyslanting direction and is .pivoted, about a parallelaxisat the lower end of a further, lever arm 55, the arm 53 thereby rocking, as necessary, toaccommodateirregularities, variations vof level, :andthe like,enc ountered by the wheel. A coil spring. 5S under tension between the-oppositeend 51 of'thearm53 and an upper point 58fof`Y the vertical arm 55, urges the wheel 50 kdownward and keeps it iirmlyengaged in the. cleft' crack.

Thevertical armis pivoted at a point 60, intermediateits ends, vto swing about an axis .parallel vto that of the pipe, i. e. to rock crosswise of the .latter, on a supporting -bracket -6I carriedby the Vheavy-end'plate-62; of the chuck assembly. The upper andopposite end of the arm 55 is connected-by a transverse link 163 to a short crank arm-.65 carriedpn a stub shaft 66 .which is journaled or pivotally mounted on an Vupright support'vsecuredatr the top ofthe' plate l62. vThe shaft 66 also carries a long upwardly :hand i12v may swing about the same horizontal 'axis 'I4 (parallel-to the pipe) as the hand 10, butindependently of -the latter. At a locality shortly above its pivot axisf'ldthe hand 12 is connected by a long, crankshaped link 16 to an upright bracket 18 carried with the welding electrodes, the bracket being mounted, for example, on the slide which supports the nozzle guides 28, 29. It will thus be seen that by virtue of the link connection 16 pivoted at its ends to the bracket 18 and the hand 12, minute transverse displacements of the slide 3|) and thus of the Welding electrodes, are transmitted to the hand 12 and are thus represented by correspondingly larger, i. e. amplified displacements of the pointed end 13 of the latter.

- While the closely superimposed but separately movable hands 10, 12 thus ailord continuous indication of the relative positions of the seam cleft I2 and the welding means 20, 2l, and are eminently effective in providing accurate regulation of the welding means so yas to follow the desired seam path, the preferred structure shown also includes a stationary target or scale 80 disposed behind the hands 10, 12 as seen from the position of the operator adjacent the chuck. More particularly, the target 80 may consist of a vertical plate as shown, carried by ears 8| from a vertical shield plate 82 which is mounted upright on the end structure 62 of the chuck device. The shield plate 82 is cut away at its upper part 84 so as to reveal the ends of the hands 10, 12 disposed in front of the plate 80.

The latter may carry graduations 85 representing, so to speak, a series of iixed points of the apparatus crosswise of the pipe path, i. e. to permit a reading of the absolute positions of the seam cleft and the welding means relative to the stationary structure.

It will now be seen that the described instrumentalities afford a convenient and yet highly accurate means for continuously indicating the positions of the seam cleft and the welding device with respect to each other and also in an absolute sense. While the follower wheel is displaced a short distance, along the cleft, from the Welding means, experience has shown that it is close enough to represent the position of the cleft under the electrodes, in that no appreciable lateral displacement of the cleft is possible in its short travel from the wheel 50 to the electrodes 20, 2l. Indeed the brief time lag involved, i. e. in the passage of a given point on the pipe from the wheel to the electrodes, may be deemed advantageous to the extent that it permits the operator, in adjusting the electrodes, to follow more readily or more promptly any incipient deviation indicated (at the Wheel locality) by the hand 10.

As explained, the hand 10 represents the cleft positionand the hand 12 the location of the welding means, while the target or scale 80 is a stationary reference for the ends 1|, 13 of the two hands. The several linkage connections being designed and adjusted, for example, to have an exactly parallel motion or extent of motion so that the hands are exactly superimposed whenever the electrode wires 20, 2| are immediately over the cleft (i. e. at any position of the latter), it only remains for the operator to watch the hands and adjust the welding means (as by the crank 42) to whatever extent may be necessary, from time to time, to keep the, hands in the described relation. Since the motion of the indicating devices is greatly amplieiid as seen in the space 84 above the shield, a displacement as small as 1/8 inch or indeed less may be readily detected as a considerable larger disparity between the hand positions, and correction effected accordingly. As will be apparent, the natures of the different linkages to the respective hands 10, 12 are such that despite the different distances and locations of their controlling instrumentalities from the indicator, equal displacements of such instrumentalities provide equal angular response of the hands. Furthermore,

the movements of the hands are inthe same absolute direction as the controlling movements of the wheel 50 and the arc electrodes, so that the readings are perfectly natural and require no mental transposition by the operator as he adjusts the apparatus. The shielding effect of the plate 82 helps to avoid confusion in observation; the operators attention is focussed on thev in a range that can be reached by the described,v

ne adjustments of the welding device. The target 80, affording a plain background, is also of observational advantage in the normal course of electrode adjustment. any divergence between the ends of the hands is permissible as a matter of specied tolerance, the target makes it easier for the operator to judge or read a departure of the hands from the tolerated deviation.

The described apparatus, moreover, is of a rugged and heavy construction, not easily susceptible of damage or of impairment in its fidelity of indication, and may be of suitably large dimensions to permit easy and clear observation at all times; yet it very accurately and reliably serves the desired purpose of providing exact registration between the Welding means and the desired line of seam.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific apparatus herein shown and described, but may be embodied in other forms Without departure from its spirit.

What is claimed is: Y, l. In apparatus for manufacturing pipe from a tubular blank having a longitudinal cleft where.- in the blank is advanced axially, in combination,` a supporting structure to engage said axially advancing blank, welding means disposed on the exit side of said supporting structure to weld a seam along the cleft as the blank passes, said welding means being adjustable relative to said supporting structure and transversely of the pipe blank, a member engaging the cleft of the passing blank on the entry side of said supporting structure and shiftable in accordance with transverse displacements of said cleft relative to said supporting structure, and means positionally controlled by the welding means and the cleft engaging member and adapted to provide amplied indication of the relative crosswise position of said welding means and cleft engaging member to each other and to said supporting structure, for.

indicating departure of the cleft from a predetermined positional relation to the welding means.

and to said supporting structure, said indicating means comprising a pair of juxtaposed indicating members respectively movable by, and in accordance with transverse displacements of, the welding means and the cleft engaging means, and a.

Likewise, for example, if

the cleft engaging device comprising a roller hav-A ing an edge to engage the cleft, arm means pivotally mounting the roller and connected to said linkage, said arm means being adapted to swing in a plane longitudinal of the pipe blank and comprising means resiliently urging the roller in continuous rolling engagement with the cleft.

FREDERIC M. DARNER. WALTER S. SCHAEFER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,983,930 Carlsen Dec. 11, 1934 2,061,671 Riemenschneider Nov. 24, 1936 2,068,166 Dodge Jan. 19, 1937 2,085,808 Krause July 6, 1937 2,189,399 Lewkers Feb. 6, 1940 2,364,645 Mott et al Dec. 12, 1944 

